Saraya’s return to professional wrestling in 2022 after a five-year, career-ending injury was a celebrated moment. However, the former champion recently admitted that she has one major regret about her subsequent run in All Elite Wrestling, wishing she had pushed herself harder in the ring.
Returning To The Ring
After making her shocking debut in AEW, Saraya was cleared to compete and had her first match back against Britt Baker. Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, she recalled the whirlwind process of getting ready for her return match.
“Tony was like, ‘All right, you’re gonna be wrestling in like, two weeks.’ And I’m like, ‘I’ve had five years out. How do I get back in the ring again?’ I didn’t have much time to train or anything… My brother Zak flew over, and he took me to a ring a couple of times, and we just tried to get some of the ring rust off, but it was really hard.”
A Cautious Approach
While she was thrilled to be back, Saraya confessed that the memory of her devastating neck injury lingered, causing her to be overly careful and not perform at the level she feels she was capable of.
“The only thing I regret about my AEW run is that I wish I tried harder when it comes to the wrestling side of things. I think I went too easy on myself, because I was a little bit worried that something would happen like WWE, where I would f*ck up and my neck would get hurt again. And I was too overly cautious.”
Saraya has since parted ways with AEW and is now a free agent. She has stated she still has the desire to wrestle and believes she can “squeeze 10 more years” out of her career on a part-time basis.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Insight With Chris Van Vliet with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
